Sepp Hasslberger: goTenna radio augments cellular

For those who venture into areas that have scarce cell pone coverage … goTenna will enable direct p2p messaging beyond the reach of a cell tower (and when communications are down for any reason). Expected to be available later this year. Can be pre-ordered at half price.

goTenna enables you to communicate without any need for central connectivity whatsoever—no cell towers, no wifi, no satellites—so when you’re off-grid you can remain connected. In fact, goTenna will even work if your smartphone is in “Airplane Mode”! How does this magic work?

Pair your smartphone to your goTenna device wirelessly, using Bluetooth-LE. Your goTenna needs to be within 20 feet of your phone, so that the two can communicate with each other.

Use free app to type out a text message or share a location. Your smartphone will send the message to your goTenna, which will then shoot it out, via long-range radio waves (151-154 MHz), to the intended goTenna(s).

At the other end, the exact same thing happens, in reverse: the recipient goTenna sends your message over Bluetooth-LE to the smartphone app it’s paired with. All of this happens in a matter of milliseconds.